Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel pairing difficult for Red Bull
Formula 1 Red Bull boss, Christian Horner, has admitted that if they accommodate both Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel in the same team, it would be difficult for Red Bull as they both have a different calibre for their sport.
Helmut Marko (Red Bull motorsport advisor) said that McLaren’s Hamilton would “always be a significant topic”. Reportedly, Horner wants to replace Mark Webber with Hamilton in case of Webber’s disappointing performance in the 2011 season.
He added, "If he wanted to drive for Red Bull, you couldn't ignore a driver of his caliber. But I understand he has a multi-year contract with McLaren and I envisage that he'll be there for a while yet. Lewis is a wonderfully gifted driver. He's obviously
happy at McLaren. We're very happy with the driver line-up we have".
Horner further added, if Hamilton himself expresses his desire to join Red Bull, then the situation could change because with any team-driver relationship there is need of desire on both sides.
He highlighted the potential relationship between Vettel and Hamilton, and commented, "It's difficult to see how you could have two drivers of Lewis's and Sebastian's calibre under one roof. There tends to be fireworks as we saw with Fernando Alonso and
Lewis. We're very happy with our current drivers. We'll see how things evolve".
He told the media that he could not rank Webber in the same category as Hamilton and Vettel, because both drivers are at different stages of their career and there is an 11-years-age gap among them.
Horner had no doubt Webber’s life experience in this sport is valuable but thinks two young drivers may be able to achieve much more for the team.
On the other hand, Horner showed his belief in his team and said that he is sure his team will achieve race victories and maintain their winning ways this season.
Vettel was the leader of Melbourne race and won his race ahead of Hamilton. He added that the time gap of 22 seconds of the MP4-26 car eased the pressure on Vettel. Horner believes Vettel will race stress-free at Sepang as he has complete faith in his
car’s reliability.
Horner highly appreciated McLaren’s unexpected performance in Australia and said that they can win the 2011 title as they were the second fastest runners of the first grand prix of the season.
The second race of this season will start on 10 April, at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.
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